Gay marriage opponents seek 5-month delay in Calif.

SAN FRANCISCO - A conservative legal group asked the California Supreme Court on Thursday to put off finalization of its decision legalizing same-sex marriage until voters got a chance to weigh in.

The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund wants the ruling stayed until November, when voters will probably encounter a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage. That amendment would overturn the justices' ruling.

In court papers submitted late Thursday, the group warned that the state would suffer "great public harm and mischief" if it began allowing same-sex marriages on June 16, when the court's decision would ordinarily become final.

Defense Fund attorneys also said implementing the ruling in the meantime would be an unnecessary expense for the state and cause unneeded confusion for couples.

"Permitting this decision to take effect immediately — in light of the realistic possibility that the people of California might amend their constitution to reaffirm marriage as the union of one man and one woman — risks legal havoc and uncertainty of immeasurable magnitude," the attorneys wrote in the petition.

Many couples started planning weddings and making appointments to secure marriage licenses immediately after the justices overturned the state's gay marriage ban on May 15.

A cloud of uncertainty lingers over the pending unions, however. A coalition of religious and social conservative groups is in the process of putting a measure on the November ballot that would write a gay marriage ban into the state constitution.

Pizer, who is planning an October wedding, said that even if the stay request results in delays, gay and lesbian couples should be heartened by the Supreme Court victory.

"What's critical in all of this is, society generally and those of us who are affected most urgently have to recognize that we have momentous, joyous moments of breakthrough, but the process of social and legal change proceeds step by step," she said.